Chapter 22: Here forever

Lily shivered and awoke with a start.

She could see her breath as she breathed out and opened her eyes.

It was what seemed like below freezing and she felt like she had been hit with a baseball bat. She groaned and put her hands up to her swollen face.

Then last night came back.

Everyone in the kitchen.

And…

Severus.

That name tore at her insides like a thousand flames.

She couldn't believe that one of her most trusted friends would do such a thing to her. He was her neighbor and a person she had looked to when she first received her Hogwarts letter and was more confused than ever. Her parents were thrilled and excited to finally have a witch in the family but Lily had no idea what that meant to her or her family. She suffered through the hours of torture from Petunia by crying on his shoulder and venting to him. She practiced all her spells and studied with him.

But that Severus was no more.

Lily remembered his face from last night like a brand to her brain. He was completely pale and sallow. He had lost so much weight, his pallor skin stretched purple over his skeleton. He had dark circles under his eyes and cuts from battle. Lily feared the worst and she knew it was true.

He had seen her with James and turned her innocent parents into the dark lord to get back at her.

She could never forgive him. Not ever.

She slowly sat up and looked out the small, round, frosted, window into the yard. It was snowing hard and Lily could barely see the horizon. The death eaters were nowhere to be seen, thank God, and Lily sighed a little. A silent tear slid down her face and she touched it, surprised that she had any tears left.

A loud snore scared her.

A messy haired, prat mumbled in his sleep sprawled out.

Potter, she scowled not in the mood for his tricks but was thankful he found her and stayed the night. It was times like these where Lily felt so alone. She had a wonderful circle of loved ones and a set of parents practically in Heather and Daniel but she felt like she was fighting this demon alone. She was full muggle born and none of her other friends were. They at least had one parent who was a witch or wizard so they never truly understood how she felt. She knew they would protect her but it was so hard for them to understand.

She knew they would be there for her forever though…

"Found them yet?" Alice bellowed from the first floor.

"No!" a silent Remus answered from four floors above.

The whole house had to be torn apart to find their one item, Lily. She was supposed to be under their guarded eyes the whole time and now after crucial information had come in she had disappeared. Everyone had scattered throughout the Potter house looking for her.

"Where's Prongs?" Sirius piped up after almost falling in a trunk.

"Who cares?" Natalie bit back, in the same room with him.

"Oh feisty!" he winked at her, sauntering over.

"Sirius this isn't the time to try to woe me," Natalie's hands were on her hips.

"It's always time for me to put you under my spell," he pulled her close.

"Ugh," she pushed him away rolling her eyes. He fell over and landed on his back, pretending to be so hurt. But that's when he noticed it.

"I'm going to check the other room, Sirius. Have a fun party by yourself," Natalie faded away as she walked out.

Sirius blocked her out as he noticed a door in the ceiling. He didn't know that the Potter's had an attic…

"Oi!" James Potter yelled when his head hit the floor from a dream. Lily jumped with a start, almost having a heart attack.

"Geez Potter, did you need to scare me like that?" She demanded.

"Sorry," he mumbled looking for his missing glasses. The red headed beauty was just a blurry speck of red and black. She came into focus and he noticed her smooth red locks flowing down over her black blouse. She sat her back to the window in muggle jeans with a scowl that James recognized ever so much on her porcelain face. He stopped, noticing the light came from behind her head illuminating every single one of her hairs. He leaned forward and pulled his hand through her silky mass as they sat there in silence.

Lily watched his hand come closer and her heart began beating so fast she thought it would jump right out of her chest. Her eyes studied his now furrowed brow as he pulled at her strands and sat in silence. The light reflected off his golden eyes showing her the different hues of amber and how his eyes sparkled like usual when he was curious. His hair was messy as usual, shown like a raven in the sunlight. Lily wanted to touch his locks too but if she did they wouldn't be messy anymore. She liked his hair messy; it was her little secret. She also liked how when he was nervous he ran his hand threw it and looked down at the ground or away from her emerald gaze.

"Oh," he suddenly noticed she was watching and did that exact nervous hand motion through his hair. Lily smiled to herself, predicting his every move but her eyes not straying.

He then looked up to catch her gaze after his blushing face had cleared and they sat in silence.

Sirius had piled anything and everything in that room on top of each other to reach the door. His column wobbled but he was completely confident that he would not fall. He opened the door slowly and it creaked a little but he had just enough room to peek in.

He at first was blinded by the bright light but when his eyes adjusted he saw Lily's face and Prongs across from her; his hand on her cheek.

A sudden slam caused both Lily and James to jump.

"Wait," he whispered and crawled to the trap door. When he opened it he was suddenly pulled through.

"James!" Lily yelled, huddling closer to the wall not wanting to move.

Then she heard laughter and a lot of noise.

She relaxed a bit when she peeked over the edge to see James and Sirius in a death wrestling match on the floor with many items scattered around them. She giggled.

"There you are!" Daniel smiled and looked up at her, not even noticing his son and adoptive son fighting. He lifted her down like a baby.

"Are you alright? We didn't know where you disappeared to," he looked her over to make sure she wasn't hurt.

"Yeah I'm ok," Lily answered sheepishly.

What is with these Potter boys and their charms? She thought embarrassed.

"Boys!" Heather suddenly appeared, hands on her hips. They immediately stopped, knowing their place and looked at her.

"Whenever I find you, I find a mess," she sighed, "at least this time Lily was included and not messy. How about some pumpkin juice dear?" she pulled Lily aside after frowning at the boys.

The group sat by the fire enjoying cookies, bars, and the most amazing pumpkin juice. Heather had her own special recipe of juice that she could make warm and the kids loved it more than Hogwarts recipe. They did this all day just talking and telling stories. The most interesting was listening to Heather and Daniel talk about the past. Lily didn't realize how much time had gone by until she looked outside and saw how pitch black it was.

"We picked this house because it was confusing!"

"Not true, love!" Daniel argued back, "I found this house first as I was scouting for one while you were at your parents pregnant and then I bought it without telling you."

"Yes, I remember that," she rolled her eyes, "but you picked it because it had so many floors and was so confusing. That's why you liked it. You wanted a big family. And look what we got?" She ruffled James' hair up and he blushed.

"Party of three," Daniel added with a toast.

Lily.

Lily jumped, causing Alice to spill down her shirt.

"What was that for?" Alice screeched at her.

"Sorry….I…shivered," she looked around at the group who obviously hadn't heard what she had.

"I'll get you a towel," Heather jumped up.

Lily…

The voice seemed to emanating from outside but Lily was the only one who could hear it. James was watching her and frowning, but he then looked away and listened to his dad again.

You know where I am.

She looked over her shoulder at the staircase and began to sweat. No one's gazed flickered from Daniel but she swore she heard that voice for real this time. Was she going crazy? Was she dreaming?

Come to me.

"I…," she interjected causing everyone to look at her, "need to go…um…get something." She was practically shaking with fear but got up from her warm spot on the couch and headed up stairs. James' eyes followed her the whole way until her thin formed disappeared.

After she knew she was out of sight, Lily broke into an all out run.

That's the right direction.

Her sweat turned cold as the wind whipped past her running figure. She ran up to the fourth floor and she stopped to study the dimly lit hallway. Only one door was open and a cold breeze blew in.

Yes.

She sprinted into the room but it was empty.

The window was open making the shades dance as the winter breeze tumbled in. Lily moved towards the window and looked out into the endless darkness. Even though she could not see anything, she sensed that whatever was talking to her was out there.

She measured the height and just like Heather mentioned, the house was confusing. This was the fourth floor but only a short jump from the ground on this side of the house. Lily jumped out the window and landed on the iced over snow, her breath coming out in a fog.

"I knew you'd find me," that bone chilling voice echoed, her bones shaking.

"Show yourself," Lily said shakily, her hair blowing in the fierce winter wind.

The dark lord entered her line of vision.

He had drastically changed since she had seen a picture of him. His dark brown hair that he used to have as Tom Riddle was falling out in patches. His eyes were almost slit like, and extremely blood shot. He had grown to almost seven feet tall and his skin was as white as the snow; you could see every vein under it. His smile was transfigured from a normal smile to one that was fang like. It was like he was half human and half beast. His robes flickered in the wind as he brought his wand out.

"What do you want?" Lily threatened her hair in front of her face.

"Oh, my dear Lily, I believe you know. You know your fate," he smirked as Lily's wand flew out of her pocket to match his, "they can't protect you forever."

A/N: I felt that we needed a little longer of a chapter in there. I hope you enjoy it and I really like reading your reviews! They help me know what you like and don't like about the story. Just putting in this note also to remind you that I do not own any of these characters, J.K. Rowling does. Hope you liked this chapter as much as I did!